In Rick's 2004 article, he says to get reservations for even the shortest ferries. Is this still the case, and does anyone know if you can make reservations from the U.S.? We want to take the Geiranger ferry, the ferry from Balestrand to Vik, and maybe the ferry from Fjaerland to Balestrand.
If you are driving and need to ferry the car with you, you may want to call ahead just a day or two to avoid the possibility of having to wait in a cue with your car for 2-3 trips of the ferry (a few hours). However, if you are on foot, ferries hardly ever fill up.
Thanks. I assume the number is in the guidebook? What do you use for a phone--phone card, mobile that you buy there, or?? We got a phone here once to use in Europe but it didn't work.
It is a good idea to make a reservation, particularly if you have prebooked your hotels or have any time limitations. I did a trip in July one year and most of the time we got on the next ferry after arriving. One time, there were too many cars ahead of us and we were unable to get on the last ferry of the day (crossing the Sognefjord). We had no booked hotel reservations so we ended up staying at the local hostel.
The number may be in the guide book. If not, do a google search for "ferry (+location)" and something should come up. We don't travel with a cell phone, but we do Skype occasionally. Our habit is to be very highly structured. We would know months in advance that we needed to take the 11:15 ferry. So if we felt we needed a reservation, we would Skype call from home where we know we have a good wifi connection and the call is almost free (watch the time difference). But being that structured is certainly not everyone's style.